The transition for Runes of Magic from Asia over to western society has been an indisputable success for Frogster. In just over one year the game has massed 3 million players, released an expansion and built over 2300 quests to fit the western market. On Tuesday, I was invited to London to see a preview of what we can expect in the third chapter for Runes of Magic: The Elder Kingdoms.

In case you're not already well versed with the upcoming story, I'll give you a run down. The old kingdom of Dalanis is under threat of having its child king overthrown, it is your decision as the adventurer whether you will stand by and protect the child king from the threat of more ambitious men. Dalanis is a very interesting city, it is wide and tall and shows off some of Frogster's best city design work.

Player versus Environment

"The first public encounter in a city"

I was taken to an area of Dalanis that was abandoned by the guards, there were thugs roaming the streets in this area which denotes potential quests for players to complete inside the city. In addition, The Elder Kingdoms will be bringing ROM its first public encounter based inside a city. This public encounter runs every 2 hours and works using a "wave" mechanic, with the final wave being a boss that will drop items.

"There will be 9 new dungeons"

Runes of Magic currently has 30 dungeons for players to work their way through and experience the fun that comes with group content. In The Elder Kingdoms, players will be able to experience 9 new dungeons, which breaks down into 3 dungeons per zone. In addition, Chapter 3 is introducing difficulty settings to the game to allow players to cater to their play style and skill level. The modes that will be available are the normal mode, for players who want to experience the content as it was intended and an easy mode, for players who do not want the content to be as challenging. I was also told that the rewards given will be scaled to the difficulty level chosen.